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Justice Ruby Kless Sondock ’62

Ruby Kless Sondock was born in 1926 in Houston and attended Cottey College in
Nevada, Missouri before marrying and starting a family. She later enrolled in the
University of Houston Law Center with the intention, she has said, of becoming
“the best legal secretary in town.”

As one of only five women in her class, Sondock graduated as valedictorian in
1962. She had been admitted to the bar a year earlier – in fact, she passed the bar
without taking a bar review class. Following graduation, she went on to practice,
arguing a case before the Texas Supreme Court in her first year.

Gov. Preston Smith offered her the appointment to the bench of the Harris County
Domestic Relations Court in 1973. Four years later, Gov. Dolph Briscoe appointed
her to the 234th District Court, earning her the distinction of being the first
woman district court judge in Harris County.

In 1982, Gov. William P. Clements appointed Sondock to the Texas Supreme Court to
serve the unexpired term of a deceased justice. With this appointment, she became
the first woman to serve on the Texas Supreme Court in a regular session of the
court, and the first woman to serve on the court since a special session in 1925.

Sondock neither sought election for a full term nor accepted the later nomination to serve the unexpired term of
then-retiring Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Joe Greenhill. Instead, she returned to district court and ran unopposed.
Since retiring from the bench, Sondock has worked for many years as a successful private mediator in Houston.

Her alma mater, the University of Houston Law Center hosts, in her honor, the Judge Ruby Kless Sondock Lectureship in
Legal Ethics Jurist-in-Residence Program. The program brings distinguished judges to campus to discuss topics in legal
ethics. For more information visit, www.law.uh.edu/jurist.